Stories in Remnant
by TheFaithless
Summary: An anthology of short stories that are all side stories to the main story, 'War in Remnant.' Each chapter will be have an individual summary. Stories are not in chronological order, and will just be uploaded as I write them. Will take suggestions if I think I can write them well. I suggest reading 'War in Remnant' first to avoid spoilers and to understand some references.
1. Chapter 1: Cake Tasting

**Summary**: Planning a wedding isn't easy, but today's errand was supposed to be simple. Unfortunately for Lie Ren, life had other plans.

**Main characters**: Lie Ren, Nora Valkyrie

**Chronology**: One day before Vacuo's attack on Beacon.

* * *

Lie Ren considered himself to be a simple man. He knew what he liked, and he knew what he didn't like. And this morning, Ren was quite fond of his sleep. His pillow was soft; his blankets were warm. He had to admit, Beacon spared no expense when it came to its students. Ren pulled his blanket closer around him as he turned over in bed to further enjoy the comforts of his bed. But as he rolled over onto his back, Ren was suddenly and worryingly aware that his fiancée was not in her usual position at his side. This did not bode well.

"Ren!" A loud voice sang from above him. Ren was able to deduce that because the voice came from a spot directly above him and not to his side that Nora Valkyrie was currently in the air and rapidly falling towards him after leaping into the air. He opened his eyes just in time to see Nora's smiling face as she crashed down onto his stomach with an impact that shook the entire bed frame. "Time to wake up!" She said, full of morning cheer as she straddled her fiancé. Any other person would've had the air knocked out of them from the impact, but Ren was so used to this behavior at this point that his body had tensed the appropriate muscles reflexively to prepare for the inevitable impact, even as he was half asleep.

"Good morning, Nora." Ren groaned sleepily. He looked to his left, at the clock on their dorm room nightstand. "What are you doing up so early?" He managed to say through a yawn, closing his eyes. Nora was normally an early riser who also doubled as Ren's personal alarm clock, but today she seemed to have awoken particularly early. The sun was only halfway up over the horizon, from what he could see through a small opening in their curtains.

"We're going cake tasting today!" Nora yelled giddily. Ren's eyes shot open in a panic. "I can't believe you forgot to tell me!" Nora chided playfully before leaning down and kissing Ren on the lips. Ren was barely able to retain the presence of mind to return the kiss for a moment before Nora broke it off and sat up straight again, literally wiggling in excitement. "We get cake!"

"…Yeah. Sorry I forgot to tell you, it must've slipped my mind." Ren shrugged apologetically. "Did you clean up yet?" Nora nodded enthusiastically. Ren looked down from Nora's face to her body to see that she had indeed cleaned up, but only barely. She was only wearing a wet white towel as she sat on Ren's bare stomach with her hair still damp and hanging limp. And if the feeling of her skin on his bare stomach was any indication, Nora had neglected to even put on any undergarments as well. "Well, you didn't finish cleaning up yet. "Why don't you go finish drying off and get dressed in the bathroom?"

"Okay, Ren!" Nora sang again, hopping off of Ren and skipping into the bathroom merrily. Nora turned around as she reached the door, smiling and waving at Ren. He returned the smile from his spot in their bed as Nora closed the door.

As soon as the door closed, Ren's smile fell off his face. He slowly rose from bed and he pulled off his blanket, revealing his well toned, muscular form. Ren had no preference for what clothes he slept in, but Nora preferred that he only wore shorts and stayed shirtless when they slept, so that's what he did. And this morning the lack of shirt only served to make his presence more imposing as he stalked over to the bed on the opposite side of the room.

The occupants of said bed were currently hiding under the covers, trying to avoid eye contact with Ren. Ren simply glared down at the head shaped bulges in the blanket until his other two teammates peeked over the edge of the covers nervously. They flinched back as they saw Ren's smoldering glare, recoiling from the angry magenta eyes that seemed to be glowing in the morning light. "Which one of you told her?" The statement was phrased as a question, but stated in such a way that there was no doubt in Jaune and Pyrrha's minds that Ren wasn't asking them so much as ordering them to answer.

Neither of the two said anything, but Pyrrha's eyes shifted to look over at Jaune for just a second, which was enough explanation for Ren. Pyrrha's betrayal was not missed by Jaune, either. "Hey! You didn't tell me that Nora wasn't supposed to know!" Jaune explained in a panic.

Pyrrha looked back and forth between Jaune and Ren, her love for Jaune and her fear of Ren's retribution coming into conflict. "I thought it was obvious! Why else would Ren ask me to go cake tasting with him for his and Nora's wedding without Nora?"

"I thought it was going to be a team thing!" Jaune quickly explained.

Ren just squeezed the bridge of his nose and he closed his eyes. He just wanted to go back to sleep. He missed it already. He could feel the bed calling out to him. Glancing at the clock, Ren was disappointed to see that there were still nearly three hours until he would have actually had to have woken up without Nora's antics. He looked back down at the couple in front of him who were stiff with a mix of fear and worry. Ren was normally a very quiet, very calm, and very easy going teammate and friend. But if you happened to agitate him by offending or infringing upon something he cared about, such as Nora or his sleep, then he turned into a vengeful spirit of destruction. Or so they thought, because this was the first time they had done something like this and been on the receiving end of his ire. "Okay." Jaune and Pyrrha flinched, expecting the worst. "You're _both_ coming with us today now."

"… What?" Jaune was baffled, and Pyrrha was in the same boat. "You aren't mad?"

"I'm furious." Ren grumbled. "But I'm going to need help dealing with Nora on a sugar high." He sighed, turning away to go grab some clothes from the wardrobe he shared with Jaune.

"It's only a tasting; she won't be eating whole cakes… right?" Pyrrha asked, suddenly unsure if Nora would deign to follow the conventional rules of food tasting, given her insatiable appetite.

"No. But she'll want to try every cake. And there are _a lot_ of cakes." Ren said as he pulled out a pair of black slacks and a forest green button down shirt. He looked over his shoulder at the other two with a hint of annoyance before letting out yet another sigh. He had asked Pyrrha to go cake tasting with him because he already knew what Nora liked, and wanted someone else's opinion on the cakes out of the ones he knew that both he and Nora would've liked. It was supposed to be a simple matter. It was supposed to have taken only a few hours at most, including travel time. But now it looked like he would have a full scale operation on his hands.

It was at this point that Nora burst out of the bathroom, now dry and fully clothed in a pink sundress that Ren had treated her to a few weeks earlier. "Ready to go!" She announced to her roommates as she bounced from foot to foot with excitement.

Ren placed a hand on Nora's shoulder and pulled her into a one armed hug to calm her as he passed by her into the bathroom. "We don't need to leave for another couple hours, Nora." Ren told her. "Why don't you go grab us some milk or juice for breakfast? We'll treat the cake as our meals." He suggested innocently in an attempt to at least minimize her sugar intake.

"Okay!" Nora said, skipping towards the door out into the hallway. She paused upon reaching the door though, turning back to look at Ren. "What if we're hungry after?"

Ren sincerely hoped that Nora would not still be hungry after the cake tasting, but figured he'd oblige her with an answer to keep her satisfied. "I'll treat everyone to lunch if we're still hungry." He answered with a smile.

"Yes, Ren!" Nora sang, her voice receding as she disappeared down the hallway towards the school cafeteria.

Ren looked back at his teammates. "You will _not _be hungry later." He grumbled before going into the bathroom and turning on the shower to clean up for the morning. Ren was already a generally tired person, but planning the wedding had made him even more so. Nora tried to help, but she generally did more damage instead of helping, so Ren had taken over planning everything while letting Nora just enjoy the simpler things, like picking color themes and some of the dessert choices.

Jaune and Pyrrha just looked at each other, glad that they escaped the wrath of Ren. "I guess we should get ready so we don't make them wait and give Ren more reason to get mad at us." Jaune finally said, a nervous giggle escaping his mouth.

"I'm just surprised you're still his best man after spilling the beans to Nora like that." Pyrrha added as she nuzzled into comfortable crook where Jaune's shoulder and chest met.

"Well, if that happens then I'll tell Nora that her maid of honor was planning on going cake tasting with Ren without her." Jaune countered with a grin.

Pyrrha's face visibly paled at the thought. "You wouldn't." Pyrrha said as she thought about what Nora would do if she found out.

"I-" Jaune stopped as the two of them suddenly felt a menacing aura from the bathroom. Jaune changed his voice to a whisper. "Never mind, I won't do it. I think Ren can hear us."

* * *

Two hours later, Nora was sitting behind Ren on their bed as Pyrrha and Jaune finished the last of their morning preparations. Nora was humming contentedly as she pulled Ren's long hair back into his usual ponytail, using her other hand to place the hair tie snuggly on his thick hair. "All done." Nora said. "My turn!" She announced as she rolled on the bed around Ren so she was sitting on the edge of the bed next to Ren. She handed him a bright pink hairbrush that she had just used to brush his hair, which he took and wordlessly began using to brush Nora's hair in return. She closed her eyes and hummed a song as Ren brushed her hair, letting herself enjoy the feeling of Ren running his fingers through her hair while he brushed it.

"What are you humming?" Ren asked absently as he brushed Nora's hair, more to make conversation rather than actual curiosity.

"I don't know. It's just something I heard Yang singing a couple times." Nora answered. "I don't know all the words, but it sounds very sweet." Nora continued her humming once she finished answering.

"I think I've heard her sing it, too." Pyrrha chipped in as she sat in front of the mirror on the dresser, tying her own hair back into its ponytail. "I asked her about it, she said she used to sing it to Ruby when they were younger."

"Mm." Ren answered automatically. "All done, Nora." He set the hair brush back on the dresser as Nora sprang to her feet.

"Let's go!" She cheered before hopping up onto Ren's shoulders, sitting on them as he wrapped his hands around Nora's ankles to support her. This sort of behavior was as natural as breathing for Ren at this point, though someone who didn't know the engaged couple might think that their behavior was strange.

Ren led the team out of the dorm room, Nora ducking her head under the door frame so she wouldn't hit her head as Jaune closed and locked the door behind them. They stopped in the hallway though, as it appeared team RWBY was leaving their own dorm room at the same time. "Greetings, team RWBY!" Nora greeted enthusiastically.

"Greetings, team JNPR!" Ruby Rose greeted with just as much enthusiasm, much to Weiss Schnee's annoyance, if her rolling her eyes was any indication.

"Good morning." Weiss greeted in a more subdued manner.

"Well you guys are sure dressed up all nice." Yang observed from the side. "Where you goin?"

"Cake tasting!" Nora answered happily.

Ruby gasped. "Cake tasting?! Can I come with you?" Ruby put on her best puppy dog expression and looked at Ren and Nora pleadingly.

"Sure you-" Nora started.

"No." Weiss interrupted, glaring at Ruby. "We need to go study today. You're falling behind."

Ruby turned her puppy dog eyes on Weiss. "But-" Ruby began.

"No." Weiss interrupted again. Rather than argue further and risk giving in to her partner's pleading gaze, Weiss turned away from Ruby, grabbing her wrist and dragging her down the hall towards the library. Ruby looked back at Ren and Nora with great sorrow in her eyes and she stumbled along behind Weiss as team JNPR chuckled and waved a goodbye.

Yang had laughed along with them as Blake exited team RWBY's dorm room and locked it behind her, joining her partner. "Poor Ruby." Blake chuckled. She turned to team JNPR. "Which bakery are you going to?" Ren told her the name of the place. "Oh, that one's nice. I've had some of their products before."

Yang looked at Blake in astonishment. "You went to a wedding cake shop? Why?"

"They make more than just wedding cakes, Yang." Blake assured her. "And the cream they used in their frosting is amazing."

"You know, you say you want equal rights as a faunus, but then you say something like loving cream or eating mostly fish. You're perpetuating the stereotype, kitten." Yang joked.

"Oh, shut it." Blake rolled her eyes as she punched Yang's shoulder. "I have that reference book you wanted, by the way." Blake told Ren. "Just come get it from our room when you get back."

"Thank you, Blake." Ren nodded his appreciation.

"Well, you guys enjoy yourselves. Have fun!" Blake took Yang's hand and intertwined their fingers as she walked off to follow Ruby and Weiss to the library.

Team JNPR could hear Yang protesting as Blake led her away. "Hey wait a minute, we don't need to go study too, where are we going? Blake! You said we were going shopping!" Yang's protests drifted away as Blake led her away from them. JNPR again laughed, always glad that they could count on their classmates and friends for a good laugh.

"Let's go guys." Ren said once their bout of laughter subsided.

"Yeah!" Nora punched her fist into the air.

* * *

"Oooooooh!" Nora exclaimed as she walked into the bakery hand in hand with Ren. "Look at all the cakes! I want to try them all!" Nora decided and she broke away from Ren and ran off towards the store clerk.

"You weren't kidding." Jaune said as he stared off at Nora. "She really does want to try all of them."

"Even though she's going to pick a White Strawberry cake anyways." Ren sighed. "Here's the plan." He said pointedly, making sure he had Jaune and Pyrrha's attention. "I'm going to be placing our orders while Nora does her thing with the cake samples." Behind Ren, Pyrrha could see that Nora had already used her unending cheer to startle the clerk into bringing her tray after tray of samples. "You two take over while I get the formalities done. Just keep her from breaking anything while I sort everything else out."

"Yes, sir." Pyrrha said as she saluted Ren playfully, already caught up in Nora's wake of happiness.

Ren turned around to see that Nora had already gone through two trays of various cake samples, amounting to about twenty four bites of cake already in less than two minutes. "You better be glad you're worth all this trouble, Nora." Ren grumbled to himself as he walked over to the clerk, who was only now beginning to realize the mistake he had made in agreeing to let this energetic young woman sample all the available cake flavors. Ren extended his hand as he approached the unfortunate clerk. "I'm Lie Ren, I have an appointment." The clerk shook Ren's hand distractedly as he looked back and forth between Nora, who was sitting at a table eating cake at an alarming rate, and Ren, who was standing calmly in front of him. "Yes, I'm her fiancé." Ren answered in response to the unspoken question.

"Ahem." The clerk cleared his throat. "Yes. My name is Kevin, my father owns this establishment." He looked over at Nora nervously, who was now being served by a different clerk now, clearly glad to be dealing with Ren instead of her. "What can I do for you, sir?"

"I'd like to take a look at some designs while my fiancée… investigates… the samples." Ren said. "Is there a catalog or album I could take a look at?"

"Yes, right here sir." Kevin said, reaching over the counter to pull a thick binder off of a stack to the side. "Is there a particular theme you'd like for the cake?" The next two hours were spent searching through the catalogue as Ren pointed out various designs and themes that he liked while Kevin flipped to the appropriate images that matched Ren's requests. Eventually Ren and Kevin narrowed them down to a few designs that Ren requested be combined into a special order with some custom designs on it. "Okay, this shouldn't be difficult." Kevin said as he put the finishing touches on the sketch that he had drawn up based their discussion. "How's this?" He held up the sketch for Ren to see.

"Look's great." Ren answered.

Any further comment Ren might've had was cut short as Nora poked her head out from under his arm, forcing her way between Ren's right arm and his body so that his arm was draped across her shoulders. "I wanna see!" Nora said, craning her head up to look at the drawing. "How pretty!"

"And have you decided on what flavor you would like the cake to be, ma'am?" Kevin asked nervously, hoping with all his heart that Nora didn't request any more samples than she already had. The poor woman who had taken over bringing Nora samples for Kevin was sitting down in a chair and fanning herself with her hand, exhausted at running back and forth to grab trays of samples. Ren counted thirteen trays stacked to the side of where Nora was sitting, and at twelve samples per tray, Nora had to have eaten around a hundred and fifty different cake samples.

"White strawberry with vanilla frosting and extra strawberries inside." Nora and Ren answered at the exact same time.

Kevin looked back and forth between Nora and Ren in amazement. "Um. Okay, yeah. No problem." He scribbled down the order on the notepad.

"Can I add something to the design?" Nora asked Ren.

Ren cocked an eyebrow curiously. "Oh? What's your idea?"

"I want them to write 'Together-together' around the edge." Nora said, suddenly a little bashful.

Ren smiled. "Already told him, Nora."

Nora looked at Kevin, who nodded and held up the notepad and pointed to a little note on the side that said that exact thing. "Oh, yay!" Nora said, bouncing on her toes. "Are you done now?"

"I just have to pay." Ren said as he followed Kevin to the register, Nora close behind. Ren put the down payment on the cake and put the receipt in his wallet while Nora hovered around him, moving around curiously but never drifting too far away from Ren. "Done now. Ready to go back to Beacon?"

"What about lunch?" Nora asked hopefully. "Let's go out to eat since we're in town!"

"You did say you would treat us if we got hungry." Pyrrha said from behind as she and Jaune approached after apologizing profusely to the young woman clerk and tipping generously for her trouble.

Ren glared at her, but Pyrrha knew that he wouldn't retaliate in front of Nora. It was her own little form of payback for leaving Nora with them for two hours while Nora was on a sugar high. "Fine. You can pick, Nora." Ren sighed in resignation.

"Yay! Let's go to the fancy tea house!" Nora decided.

"Yeah!" Jaune and Pyrrha agreed.

Ren silently groaned at Nora's decision, the tea house she was referring to had great food but was also quite expensive. While Ren did have a large amount of money thanks to the success of his parents, he was not fond of spending large amounts of money needlessly. But he did tell Nora that he would treat them, so he conceded. "Fine, lead the way."

Jaune and Pyrrha laughed at Ren's resignation as they led the way down the sidewalk in the afternoon air. They walked hand in hand as they chatted with each other about something Ren couldn't hear, smiles on their faces. Ren and Nora followed a ways behind them as Nora wound her arm around Ren's so they were walking arm in arm.

"Hey, Ren?" Nora called quietly as she smoothed out her sundress.

"Yes?"

"We're together-together." She smiled. To Nora, marrying Ren was like a dream come true, so she occasionally felt the need to reaffirm that fact.

Ren smiled as he leaned over and gently placed a quick kiss on the tip of Nora's nose. "Together-together forever."


	2. Chapter 2: Just Good Business

**Summary:** Now that the war is over, the deal between Ozpin and Torchwick will soon expire.

**Main Characters:** Professor Ozpin, Roman Torchwick

**Chronology:** Two weeks after Vacuo is defeated.

* * *

The sun had barely risen above the horizon and Professor Ozpin was already awake and working. He was reading about the accomplishments of his former students in the war, courtesy of the Lord Commander Pyrrha Nikos, who was kind enough to oblige his request to send him files on the hunters involved in the war so that he could use the information to better train his students in the future. As much as he believed reading each file was necessary to improve the way his school taught students, every file he read was a knife to the heart. The dead were still basically children in his eyes, too young to have truly had time to live their lives. Nora Valkyrie. Blake Belladonna. Two very powerful huntresses, lost in only the last days of the war. And those were only two of the names on the list he held, which had nearly one hundred other names of huntsman an huntresses who had fallen during the war. Even Weiss Schnee had been missing for the last two weeks, despite surviving the war.

Many of the names on the list were once his students, the exceptions being hunters that came from other schools or even other kingdoms entirely. But those were few and far between compared to the number of Beacon Academy students who had joined in the war. And despite the pain in his heart at the loss of his students, he couldn't help but feel pride well up inside him at his students' determination to fight for their school and their home. Ozpin couldn't have been more honored as their headmaster.

His thoughts were interrupted by a knock at his office door. "Headmaster? You have a… guest." Glynda Goodwitch called from the other side of his door.

Ozpin knew who the guest was without Glynda needing to tell him. If there was one good thing that could be said about Roman Torchwick, it was that he always made a point to be on time and punctual. "Let him in, Glynda."

Glynda opened the door and allowed Roman to enter the headmaster's office, eyeing him distastefully. Even though Roman and Ozpin had been meeting once a month for the entire duration of the war, she had never once changed her opinion of the criminal. Roman had always been willing to meet Ozpin at Beacon, arriving at the school during the early hours before the faculty or students had awoken so as not to arouse suspicion. "Morning, Ozzy."

"Good morning, Roman." Ozpin said as he set aside the files and crossed his hands in his lap as Roman sat in the chair across the desk from Ozpin, hooking his cane on the arm of the chair.

"You asked me to meet you here quite a bit earlier than usual." Roman observed. "A paranoid man might suspect that with the end of the war, you might've called in the police to have them lie in wait."

"We've known each other a long time. And we both know that if the authorities were present here that you never would've entered the premises." Ozpin said, standing up. "Tea? Coffee?"

"I'll take my usual coffee." Roman said. "And you are quite right." He said with a smile. The crime lord and businessman should've guessed that Ozpin had figured out that Roman had contacts within various police departments.

"And there's also the issue of me being an accomplice." Ozpin continued as he poured two mugs of coffee. "Turning you in would incriminate me as well." He set the steaming mug on a coaster in front of Roman.

Roman tipped his hat in thanks. "An excellent point you make." He grinned.

"I asked to meet earlier because I have much to do today, and little time to do it in." Ozpin explained as he gestured at the stack of files he had previously been reading.

"That's quite a stack of paperwork you have there." Roman said as he took a sip of coffee. "What's in them?"

"They're files on the hunters who fought in the war." Ozpin said. "Most of them killed in action." Ozpin looked at Roman meaningfully. "Blake Belladonna is among the dead."

Roman was raising his mug to take another sip, but his it froze halfway to its destination at hearing the news. His eyebrow twitched. "Belladonna, huh?" He rested his mug on his knee. "I'm not sure how I feel about that."

"She did save your life." Ozpin reminded Roman. "You never repaid that particular debt to her."

Roman visibly flinched, his hand tightening around his mug uncomfortably as he recalled the memory. "I gave you information that helped you all stop Cinder from destroying Vale and the White Fang. I'd say that was enough to repay my debt to the girl." His reasoning may have sounded full of confidence, but he knew he had failed to convince himself. Roman was, and still is, a pragmatist and a businessman, and the businessman felt that his side of the 'transaction' was not equal to what Blake had given. He thought his life was quite valuable and worth quite a bit, after all. "Does she have family? Maybe I could see myself gifting them something in her memory." He cleared his throat uncomfortably.

Ozpin shook his head. "She has no family. Only a father-in-law. And I doubt you would want to meet him." While Roman may have felt he had a debt to Blake Belladonna, his feelings towards Ruby Rose were far less business-like and far more hostile, and Ozpin didn't feel that introducing him to Ruby's father would do anyone any good.

Roman shrugged. "Then I guess I have no debt to repay. The dead don't need the comforts of the living."

"Too true." Ozpin said, raising his mug to toast what Roman had said.

Roman lifted his mug in toast and took a hefty gulp of coffee. "Well then, down to business." Roman said as he set his mug on the coaster. "I have another reason I'm curious about you inviting me for another meeting. The war is finished, you and the army don't need any more of my supplies, and business will soon return to normal for me. What can we be meeting about now?"

"The war may be over, but Vacuo also lies in ruins. It hasn't been covered in detail in the news, but there are still many refugees being evacuated from Vacuo so they don't become victims of the Grimm horde alongside their army." Ozpin said. "And refugees will desperately need more supplies than an army, since they've lost their homes. There's plenty more opportunity for business, if you're willing to continue." Ozpin finished.

"Oh, I'm always eager for business. Especially legitimate business. It's become quite profitable." Roman said with a grin. He flipped his hair out of his eyes. "Same contract, or are we changing distribution and supply content?"

"We'll need to change it. Wartime supplies are unnecessary now. Food and medical supplies will be our number one priority, with basic living supplies coming next. Mostly things that can give them some sense of a home while they wait to relocate to a new home here in Vytal, or elsewhere." Ozpin listed.

"Simple enough." Roman said as he wrote down the things Ozpin was listing off in his scroll. "Tents, air mattresses, sleeping bags, lamps, portable cooking gear… camping supplies, basically. No problem, I have warehouses that have everything you need." Roman tapped his chin with his finger thoughtfully. "If most of the Vacuoan population needs to relocate, maybe I should think about getting into real estate." He grinned. "Buying up a lot of empty land and building apartments on them should be quite profitable. Even if I charge them a very low rent, I'll still end up making a sizable amount of money."

"I'm glad to see that you won't be charging them more just because they're vulnerable." Ozpin commented.

"Tsk tsk. That's bad for business. Better to get them to be comfortable in a decent home. A comfortable person spends more money than someone who needs to watch their checkbook." Roman said in a sagely manner. "That's how you do good business."

"I suppose your right." Ozpin agreed. "A toast to our new agreement, then?" Ozpin raised his mug of coffee to Roman.

Roman lifted his cup up and tapped it against Ozpin's. "To our new agreement." Roman finished off the entire remaining half of his coffee at once, and Ozpin followed suit. Both men set down their cups at once, nearly mirroring each other. "You're a smart man, Ozzy. You should've joined me."

Ozpin shook his head sadly. "It should've been the other way around, Roman. You should've remained a hunter with the rest of us."

"I've done too much damage to come back now." Roman laughed. "I doubt any of you could forgive me." He stood up and stretched his arms above his head. "If betraying Cinder wasn't enough to bring you to trust me anymore, I doubt there's anything else I could do."

"In a way it's exactly _because_ you betrayed her that we don't trust you." Ozpin said as he remained in his seat. "You'd betray anyone if you could gain something from it."

"Well, I haven't betrayed you now, have I?" Roman said, tipping his hat. As he said that, he stumbled slightly and lost his balance before falling back down to sit in the chair. "Whoa. Must've stood up a bit too quickly." Roman shook his head in an attempt to ease the lightheadedness, but it didn't work. "Or I'm coming down with something."

Ozpin shook his head silently as he watched Roman from across his desk. "I didn't want it to be this way. But you've done too much damage. I would be a fool to let you leave to cause any more harm now or in the future."

Roman was taking deep breaths as he loosened his gray scarf from around his neck. His eyes showed hints of panic as he looked down at the coffee mug he had set on the desk in realization. "Poison?" A sudden pressure in his chest caused him to cough into his gloved hand. He looked into his hand to see that there was no blood as he had feared, but the pressure was still there in his chest.

"It's painless." Ozpin informed him. "You'll feel a light pressure in your chest, and your breathing will become shallower. You'll get sleepy, and feel weak before you finally pass on. Peacefully."

"_You _betray _me?_" Roman asked in disbelief as he struggled to take deeper breaths. "_You're_ the one who kills me?" He coughed again as the effort of speaking was becoming more than his body could take.

"I'm sorry it came to this, Roman." Ozpin said sadly.

"After all these years, _now_ you grow a pair?" Roman laughed, gasping for air. "I can't believe…" his chest was heaving as he struggled for breath. "…you're the one…" He slumped down into the chair, his muscles no longer strong enough to support his weight. "… wasn't… supposed…to be… this…" Roman stared at Ozpin, eyes full of disbelief and a sort of mad glee. There was a tense moment of stillness before his body finally relaxed into the limpness Ozpin knew meant that a person was dead.

Ozpin stared at the dead man that was once Roman Torchwick for another few seconds before rising. He circled around his desk to gently close Roman's unseeing eyes with his fingers. "I'm sorry, old friend." He whispered. Ozpin reached over and pressed a button on his desk to call for Glynda.

Glynda entered a few minutes later, coming from running errands elsewhere in the school. Her eyes widened when she saw Roman lying limp in a chair. "What happened?"

"I made a tough decision." Ozpin said quietly.

Glynda crouched down next to Roman and checked his vital signs. There were none, of course. She stood up again. "What do we do about the body?"

Ozpin smiled internally. He could always count on Glynda to stand by his side, no matter how questionable some of his decisions may appear. "Would you go get the incinerator ready? The one in the basement. Before the students wake up, preferably." Ozpin asked. "I'll bury his ashes and say my goodbyes on my own afterwards."

"Of course, headmaster." Glynda acknowledged. "…Are you going to be okay?"

Ozpin thought for a minute before nodding. "Yeah, I think I will. It needed to be done." Ozpin looked down at Roman, who could have passed off as sleeping. "Even if we were best friends, once upon a time."


	3. Chapter 3: Love is in the Air

**Summary:** Yang feels over-protective of her baby sister and Blake desperately needs to get some more attention from Yang.

**Main Characters:** Team RWBY

**Chronology: **Nearly two years before the beginning of the beginning of War in Remnant, soon after the beginning of Team RWBY's second year at Beacon.

* * *

Yang Xiao Long sighed as she used index and middle fingers to push her half moon reading glasses farther up the bridge of her nose. She currently found herself studying alone in the dorm room she shared with her team, the rest of her team off elsewhere doing their own things now that the school day had finished. Yang's schedule ended earlier than the rest of her team's on Fridays this semester, so this wasn't an unusual occurrence at all. She just wished she was studying a more interesting topic than 'The Political Ramifications of the Development of the International Trade Agreements between the Four Kingdoms and their Colonial Settlements.' This had more technical jargon in it than anything she else she had ever read, and it was driving her crazy. "Just three more days." Yang groaned to herself as she crossed her legs in her chair and leaned back, pulling her scroll with her to continue studying. "After Monday's test, I can forget about all of this nonsense."

Yang tapped her foot in the air as she continued studying for the next few minutes, before the sound of the door handle turning interrupted her quiet study time. Yang glanced over her shoulder and saw that her partner and girlfriend, Blake Belladonna, was returning to the room. "Oh good, you're here." Blake said hurriedly as she threw the door shut behind her. "I need your help." Blake threw her bag on her bed unceremoniously, before strolling purposefully over to Yang.

"What do you need my help with?" Yang asked, placing her scroll on the desk and setting her reading glasses down next to them before looking to over towards Blake.

"I need-" Blake suddenly stopped talking as she looked down at what Yang was wearing. "Yang, why aren't you wearing any clothes again?" Blake's eyes widened as she saw that Yang had forgone clothes at some point and was wearing nothing but a pair of black, lace, women's briefs and a matching strapless bra.

"…It got hot?" Yang said with a shrug. Her naturally high body temperature often left her feeling much warmer than her teammates, and as a result she often wore less and tried to stay cooler than her teammates when she got the chance. "We're in our own room; I don't need to wear clothes if I don't want to." Yang continued, crossing both her arms and legs defiantly.

"I'm not complaining. This will speed things up." Blake assured her quickly before removing her own jacket and throwing it aside, leaving it to join her bag on her bed. Blake draped her leg over Yang's lap, giving Yang only a second to uncross her legs in confusion before Blake dropped herself down on Yang's thighs.

"Hey, what're you doing?" Yang exclaimed as Blake reached up and undid the bow around her ears, tossing it onto the ever increasing pile of belongings on her bed.

Blake's ears twitched as she undid the blouse of her uniform and slipped it off her arms and onto the floor. "What does it look like I'm doing?" Blake growled as she fumbled with the button on her skirt. "I clearly want some attention."

"Okay, I realize this may sound strange coming from me, but didn't you say we needed to spend this weekend studying?" Yang asked. This was a definite change of pace, as Yang was usually the one who instigated their more intimate activities while Blake silently pretended to not want the attention before 'giving in' to Yang. "Are you okay?" Yang reached up and placed the back of her hand against Blake's forehead to check her temperature. "Blake! You're burning up!"

Yang stood up from under Blake, lifting her up and carrying her over to the bed while Blake protested. "Yang! What are you doing!?"

"You have a fever, you need to rest. I'll go get you some water." Yang said as she fussed over Blake. The nearly nude huntress used her leg to kick Blake's stuff off of the bed before she laid Blake down on the now clear blankets. She knew she was a very touchy-feely person, but Yang would not take advantage of her sick girlfriend.

But as soon as Yang let go of Blake, the feverish faunus immediately bounced back up off the bed and wrapped her arms around her blond girlfriend. Then Blake twisted around and pulled Yang onto the bed, rolling and once again straddling her girlfriend. "I don't need water, I need _you_!" Blake moaned as she leaned over and kissed the base of Yang's neck, nipping around the collar bone as she attempted to remove Yang's bra.

As Yang lay under Blake in stunned silence, another possible explanation for Blake's behavior crossed Yang's mind. "Blake… are you… in heat?" Yang asked as a grin began to ever so slowly expand across her face. Her question was briefly interrupted when she let out a little hiss of pleasure and Blake used her canines to roughly bite into Yang's shoulder.

Blake jerked her head up from Yang's chest at the question, a look of incredulity on her face. "I'm not in _heat_!" Blake sat up straight over Yang, still straddling her hips. "I'm not an animal. I'm _horny_!" Blake growled as she leaned over to resume her exploration of Yang's voluptuous chest.

"Was that statement really necessary?" A voice called from the doorway. Blake and Yang both whipped their heads towards the doorway to see Weiss and Ruby standing just inside the room. Weiss had a disapproving glare on her face while Ruby ducked down and hid behind Weiss, her face red as her cloak as she carefully peeked over Weiss' shoulder. "I thought we agreed that you two would give us at least twelve hours notice before engaging in such activities." Weiss said, reminding them of the impromptu contract she had them sign after the first time she and Ruby had walked in on the couple.

"It was an emergency." Blake grumbled discontentedly as she got off of Yang and grabbed her blouse from the floor, sliding her arms back into the sleeves before buttoning it back up. "And I thought you two were going to be studying in the library until tonight anyways."

"Uh, we were, but something, uh, came up, so we decided to leave a little early. You know?" Ruby fumbled around for her words nervously, gesturing around her meaninglessly.

"What happened?" Yang asked with concern as she sat up, not bothering to add any clothes to her current outfit, much to Weiss' annoyance.

"Oh, um, nothing. Just not the right time to study. You know?" Ruby tittered, not realizing that the way she was speaking was obviously giving away that she was hiding something. She attempted to move past Yang over to the desk, but Yang reached out and caught her by the cloak before she was out of reach and yanked her down onto the bed next to her.

"Come on, sis, you can tell me." Yang assured her baby sister. "Oh, does this have anything to do with whatever it is that's been bothering you the last couple days?"

Ruby's eyes widened in surprise. She thought she was doing a good job of hiding it and that Yang didn't notice. "It's nothing, just a little, uh, stress?" Ruby said hesitantly. "Yeah, stress. From school work."

Ruby eyes darted to Weiss' eyes for just a moment, pleading with Weiss not to reveal the true cause of their early departure from the library. But Weiss was having none of that. "We left because some first year wouldn't stop pestering Ruby to go out with him." Weiss revealed, knowing that this knowledge would set off Yang and the problem would soon be resolved. Ruby only groaned in dismay as she heard the words leave Weiss' mouth.

Yang blinked once before the full weight of what Weiss said hit her. "_What!"_ Yang yelled, leaping to her feet and gesturing angrily as her eyes turned red. In any other circumstance, a nearly naked Yang Xiao Long jumping around their room in anger would have been amusing to Weiss at the very least, but this time there was no amusement. Yang looked like a very, very angry mother bear that had just been told that her little cub had just been kidnapped. "Who is this little punk! I'll straighten him out and teach him a lesson and-"

"No! He's a nice guy, he just has a hard time understanding that I don't want to go out with him!" Ruby objected worriedly, not wanting Yang to murder a poor boy. "I'm sure that he'll leave me alone if I say 'no' again."

Yang stopped her furious gesturing and focused on Ruby, her eyes shifting back to their normal violet coloring. "… 'again?'" Yang asked, catching on to the way Ruby accidentally emphasized the word. "This has been going on for more than just today?" Yang eyes immediately returned to the angry red they were moments earlier, and this time the temperature in the room noticeably rose as she began to glow. "No little punk _boy_ is going to go out with my little sister without my approval! And bothering her like this is grounds for a good beating!" Yang began moving towards the door, but Ruby dashed in front of her and spread her arms in front of Yang, desperate to keep her sister from both leaving the room in her underwear and from attacking another student.

"Yang, you can't hurt him, I'll deal with it!" Ruby yelled. "I'll make sure he doesn't ask me again on Monday, okay? Just don't hurt him."

Yang was breathing heavily, glaring past Ruby at the door. After a few moments, she calmed down a little and her aura and eyes returned to normal, much to Ruby's relief. "Fine." Yang sighed. "You have until Monday evening to deal with him before I deal with him personally. Got it?" Yang said, unwilling to compromise on that part.

Ruby nodded. "Agreed."

"Well, now that that's settled." Blake grumbled from her bed. "Can you two leave us alone for a few hours?"

"We agreed to-" Weiss began to protest.

"If you do this for me I'll make sure Yang doesn't call you any nicknames for a week." Blake interrupted.

Weiss stopped in the middle of her protest at hearing Blake's proposal. "Two weeks." She proposed as a counter offer.

"One week of no nicknames _or _puns if you stay out until dinner time." Blake immediately shot back.

This was a deal too good to pass up in Weiss' eyes. "Deal." She reached out her hand and shook Blake's.

"Deal." Blake agreed. "Now get out."

"Don't I get a say in-" Yang started.

"No." Blake cut in, dragging Yang back to the bed.

"Can I at least go to the bathroom first?" Ruby asked quietly, shifting back and forth on her feet like a small child with a full bladder.

Blake's shoulders sagged. "Fine. Make it fast."

"Thank you!" Ruby said as she dashed into the bathroom and closed the door behind her.

As soon as the door clicked shut behind Ruby, Yang pulled away from Blake and snatched up her scroll. Yang quickly scrolled through her contacts and selected someone's name that Blake and Weiss didn't catch before Yang held the scroll up to her ear. "Are you calling someone?" Weiss asked curiously.

"Yee-up." Yang answered distractedly. "Come on, hurry up and answer." She mumbled, glancing at the bathroom every few moments. Only seconds later, there was a soft click as whoever Yang was calling answered the phone. "Hey, Sea-bass!" Yang greeted enthusiastically before the person could say anything.

Weiss and Blake had moved closer to Yang now, and could also hear 'Sea-bass' answer Yang. "Please stop calling me that, Yang." A man's voice said tiredly, almost habitually. Blake and Weiss immediately recognized that the voice belonged to Sebastian, leader of Team SBLE and close friend to Yang. Even Weiss, with her high standards, held a healthy measure of respect Sebastian- he was well dressed, well spoken, and eternally calm and composed. Even in the company of the rambunctious and energetic Yang, he somehow managed to remain quiet and calm while maintaining an appropriately dignified air of a gentleman. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"I need a favor." Yang said simply.

"Of course." Sebastian answered without hesitation. Sebastian, the entire team SBLE in fact, saw Yang as not only a good friend, but a sister. And as such, if Yang wanted a favor, she got a favor.

"Heyo, Blondie!" Another voice called from over the scroll. "Whatcha need?" This voice belonged to Laurent, who was Sebastian's twin brother, teammate, and behavioral polar opposite. Where Sebastian was quiet and composed, Laurent was loud and unrestrained. Where Sebastian could easily pass as nobility, Laurent would be more at home at a rave or wild party. Yang thought the twins made a very nice complementing set of personalities to hang out with.

Weiss on the other hand, did not approve of Laurent the way she did Sebastian and so tried to avoid conversing with Laurent more than necessary. However, this was made more difficult because both Laurent and Sebastian looked exactly the same, down to their weapons and fighting style. It didn't help matters that Laurent occasionally gets into moods where he chooses to act like Sebastian for a couple days at a time.

Blake enjoyed both of the twins' company, though she wasn't as good as friends with them as Yang was. When Yang and Blake started dating though, they also declared Blake as a 'sister' and warmed up to her very quickly. Blake especially enjoyed Sebastian's company, as they often spent entire hangouts discussing books and literature in detail that Blake couldn't with her teammates.

"So there's a boy that's been bothering Ruby," Yang told them, "a first year named…" Yang looked at Weiss questioningly, snapping her fingers to demand a response.

Weiss just rolled her eyes, but acquiesced. "Garret. I don't know his last name. White hair, tall, arrogant and full of himself." Weiss said. "I think his team name is 'Indigo' or something like that."

"Garret." Yang finished before relaying the description to Sebastian. "I promised Ruby I wouldn't do anything until Monday, but I don't think that applies to you guys, right?" Yang smiled.

"I can't see why it would." Sebastian agreed. "I made no such promise, after all."

"Yeah, yeah, we'll deal with him no problem." Laurent added. "Nobody gets to harass little Rubes without your permission. I'll go let Bishop and Evan know that we got a boy to go deal with." Yang could hear Laurent leaving the proximity of Sebastian's scroll and calling out to the other two members of their team.

Blake and Weiss almost felt bad for this 'Garret' kid. In seeing Yang as a sister, the boys of team SBLE had also sort of 'adopted' Ruby as a younger sister. And that meant that unfortunately for anyone who got it in their head to attempt court Ruby, they had to go through four older brother figures in addition to the older sister. Weiss personally thought that the four boys spoiled Ruby far too much when she hung out with them, but at least they seemed to have no interest in trying to date Ruby.

"How intense of a chat should we have with this young man?" Sebastian asked.

"I'll leave it up to you since you'll be the ones having the chat." Yang laughed.

"Very well." Sebastian replied. "We'll start taking a look around for him. Is there anything else?"

"Nah, I'm just about to have some fun time with Blake, so-"

"Yang!" Blake yelled, both to get Yang to stop talking so openly with Sebastian and to get Yang to hurry up and hang up so she could join her.

"-so I'll be going now." Yang said, throwing a wink to Blake.

"I see. Well, you two enjoy yourselves." Sebastian hung up without further comment, never one for saying any sort of goodbye.

Yang tossed the scroll back on the desk just as Ruby exited the bathroom. "All done!" Ruby announced, unaware of the conversation that had just taken place. "We'll take off now."

"Let's go to town for some shopping and dinner." Weiss suggested, knowing that any further attempt at studying on campus would leave them vulnerable to the chance of encountering Garret.

"Can we go to the bakery?!" Ruby asked excitedly.

Normally, Weiss would decline, but she figured that after the day Ruby had she could treat Ruby to something from the bakery. "Fine." Weiss sighed. "We're going to the bakery last, though. Dinner and some shopping first."

"Okay!" Ruby said excitedly, dashing out of the room.

"Ruby! Hey! Wait!" Weiss yelled, chasing after her partner.

Yang closed the door behind them with a chuckle. "Well then, before we get started." Yang said to Blake, who was already removing her own clothes again now that Weiss was gone. "Why are you so… _excited_ … today?"

Blake blushed. "Well…" she looked at Yang, who was standing by the door with her arms crossed and a smile on her face while refusing to come any closer until Blake answered. "My two first classes on Friday mornings I share with Pyrrha, right?"

"Yeah…"

"Well, she and Jaune must've… done the deed… this morning because I could smell _her_ through all of both classes." Blake continued abashedly. "And I guess it made me think of you, and then I got all worked up, and now… well, you know the rest."

Yang's eyes widened in surprise. "You've been like this all day? How did you focus in any of your classes?" She giggled at the image of Blake zoning out and fidgeting uncomfortably in class without explanation.

"… I didn't?" Blake shrugged.

Yang could only laugh at her girlfriend's antics. "I guess I better help you out then." Yang said as she strolled seductively over to Blake.

"Wait, wait." Blake said, waving her hand.

"First you can't wait to have me and now you're telling me to wait?" Yang sighed, stopping at the edge of the bed. "You're being awfully finicky today."

"Can you put on your glasses first?" Blake asked, pointing at the pair of half moon glasses Yang had been wearing when she was studying. Yang's raised eyebrow provided the unspoken question. "I think they're hot." Blake explained, only slightly embarrassed at the admission.

Yang just laughed as she donned her glasses before she jumped into Blake's bed and showered Blake with her own special brand attention, much to Blake's delight.

* * *

The weekend passed without incident. Yang spent her weekend studying alongside Blake, and come Monday, Yang took her test and confidently answered every question and wrote her essay with ease. In the end, Yang thought her hard work ought to be rewarded with a nap. So once her classes ended Monday afternoon, Yang returned to her empty dorm room, changed into a pair of loose black shorts and a yellow tank top, then climbed up onto her bed. Pleased that her sheets were nice and cool, Yang was quickly drifting off into a contented sleep when she was interrupted by the soft sound of the dorm room door opening and closing.

Yang craned her head over to the side to see which of her roommates had returned just as a head peeked over the edge of the bed, nearly butting heads with Yang. "Hey there." Blake greeted pleasantly. "What are you up to?"

Yang plopped her head back down onto her pillow. "I was about to take a nap." Yang answered.

"Mind if I join you?" Blake asked, dropping back down below Yang's line of sight.

"I would not mind in the least." Yang said with a small grin. The chances of Yang passing up and opportunity to snuggle with her girlfriend were next to nothing.

Yang could hear some shuffling noises coming from under the bed for a few seconds before Blake popped up above the edge of the bed again, this time without her school uniform or bow, only wearing a pair of shorts and a tank top that matched Yang's. "Scoot scoot." Blake said as she gestured for Yang to move over to give Blake room on the bed.

"Aren't those my clothes?" Yang chuckled as she moved over.

"What's yours is mine." Blake explained as she climbed into the bed and snuggled up against Yang.

"Is that so?" Yang smiled as she wrapped an arm around Blake and pulled her close.

"Mmhmm." Blake purred contentedly.

* * *

Their peaceful nap only lasted an hour before their dorm room door flew open, accompanied by the loud voice of their team leader. "Yang! Where are you!" Ruby called out loudly.

The loud call startled both of the napping girls awake. "Ruby?" Yang answered groggily. "Is something wrong?"

"You told me you weren't going to do anything to Garret until tonight!" Ruby said accusingly, crossing her arms and glaring up at Yang. "I was going to deal with him after class today."

"Ruby, you were in the room with me all weekend while I was studying, and I was in classes until an hour ago. And then I came back to the room and have been napping with Blake ever since." Blake nodded in confirmation. "When did I find time to go deal with the little punk?" Yang explained sleepily, covering a yawn with her hand.

"I… well…" Ruby deflated. "Actually, you have a point." Ruby admitted.

"Did something happen?" Yang asked innocently.

Ruby nodded. "After classes, he found me and Weiss while we were walking to the library to return some books and stopped us. I thought I was going to get to talk to him then, but then he fell down to his knees and started apologizing and begging for forgiveness for bothering me!" Ruby raised her hands questioningly as she stood there baffled. "He looked like he was about to cry. Do you think he felt bad or something?"

"Yeah, that was probably it." Weiss said with a snicker, obviously having kept quiet about what Yang had done.

"Well, if he apologized, no harm done right? Now neither of us need to deal with him." Yang said as she buried her face in Blake's hair, trying to hide that she was silently laughing from Ruby.

"Yeah, you're right." Ruby conceded. "I'm gonna go to the cafeteria and get some cookies." Ruby turned and left, leaving her three teammates back in the room as the door closed behind her.

"Damn, what do you think SBLE did to him?" Yang finally let out all the laughter she was holding in while Ruby was standing there. "Nearly crying? They must've-"

The door burst open. "Ah ha! I knew you did something!" Ruby flew back into the room, pointing a finger at Yang accusingly. She had obviously figured out that Yang had done something, somehow, and left the room and waited just outside to listen for an admission. "Yang, you promised you wouldn't do anything to him!"

Yang was too caught up in her laughter to answer immediately. Weiss just rolled her eyes and went to her own bed to begin setting down her bags and starting her homework. And since Yang was preoccupied with laughing, Blake took it upon herself to answer for her girlfriend. "Well, technically she promised that she wouldn't do anything to him _personally._" Blake said. "She just happened to tell someone else that some boy was harassing you and they went and did something about it."

"But- I wanted- argh!" Ruby was bouncing up and down in frustration. "I wanted to deal with him! I'm old enough that I need to learn to do things like this on my own." Ruby pouted.

"You barely sixteen, Ruby. You shouldn't know about these things for another two years, at least." Yang replied.

"I'm not a baby, Yang!" Ruby complained as the other two team members laughed at Yang's response.

"No, you're not. But you're still _my _baby sister." Yang said in all seriousness.

"You still have to let me grow up some time." Ruby sniffed.

Yang gestured for Ruby to climb up onto the bed with her, and Ruby reluctantly obliged. "Ruby, I love you more than anything and would do anything for you." Yang said as she pulled Ruby into a sisterly snuggle. "And I am willing to admit, maybe I reacted a _little_ too rashly." Yang said, emphasizing 'little.' "So next time you have a boy problem, tell me right away, and I won't do anything, okay? Well, as long as you deal with it quickly and don't let it drag out like this."

Ruby was still pouting, but could hardly go against the reasoning her sister had presented. "Okay. I'll deal with it better next time." Ruby mumbled into Yang's chest, since she could exactly pull away from tight Yang's embrace.

"Good!" Yang said cheerfully, ruffling Ruby's hair and drawing out a smile from her younger sister. "Now we can all laugh about this and hope we didn't scar a little boy for life." Everyone laughed, nodded, or did a mix of the two actions.

Ruby felt a tap on her shoulder after a few seconds, and turned her head to see Blake, who was sitting at the edge of the bed, looking down at her. "Hmm?" Ruby hummed questioningly.

Blake pointed at Yang's chest. "You're in my spot."


	4. Chapter 4: Moving On

**Summary: **With the end of the war, Velvet tries to find something else to distract herself from her memories. The memories have a strong grip though, and won't let themselves be cast aside so easily.

**Main Characters:** Velvet Scarlatina, Sun Wukong

**Chronology: **This story begins right after the epilogue of War in Remnant.

* * *

Velvet waved goodbye to her two friends as they walked down the aisle to their honeymoon limousine to the cheers of the crowd. Jaune and Pyrrha were now happily married, and Velvet couldn't be happier for them. She was honored that Pyrrha had asked her to be the maid of honor, and happily accepted the invitation. Though, Velvet wasn't fooling herself. She knew that she wouldn't have been asked if Weiss hadn't gone missing a month ago. Nevertheless, she was touched. Velvet had helped plan the wedding, as rushed as it was, and found that the hectic planning had provided her a needed distraction from her bad memories.

Her work as a medical officer for the army kept her busy, and the end of the war only made her work life even busier. During the war all Velvet had to worry about was injured soldiers, but now she had nearly an entire kingdom's worth of civilians to worry about. She treated illnesses and injuries, taught them preventative medicine, and helped out with a myriad of other tasks. Now, with Jaune and Pyrrha now leaving for a three week honeymoon, Velvet had even more responsibility on her shoulders. There were facilities to be built, people to transport, and budgets to be finalized. While others may have seen the immense load of work on Velvet's shoulders as a burden or a curse, Velvet thought of it as a blessing of sorts. Being so busy meant she didn't have time to think about the terrible things that had happened during the war.

"Hey there, everything okay?" a man's voice asked from Velvet's left.

Velvet looked over to see none other than Sun Wukong, who had come to the wedding on behalf of Tamamo and the other hunters at the fortress that Pyrrha had invited. Only Sun came though, with the explanation that they had to man their fortress, not to mention that they had spent so long away from other people they would feel unbelievably awkward. Velvet suspected that there were other reasons, but couldn't really figure what they could be, if there really were other reasons. Then again, as Velvet tried to imagine people like Cheshire or Vimentis sitting in at a wedding, she kind of understood that there may be more truth to the statement than she first believed. "What? Yeah, everything's fine, why?"

Sun blinked. "Well, you kinda have a tear falling down your cheek and your eyes are watering up." He was surprised Velvet hadn't noticed.

"Huh?" Velvet quickly reached up to wipe away the tear with her finger. "Oh, I'm just happy for them. Aren't you supposed to cry at a wedding?" Velvet lied.

Sun just smirked as he raised an eyebrow. "That so?" He looked down at Velvet and didn't say anything else, his expression clearly conveying he knew Velvet was lying.

Velvet shifted uncomfortably. "You know, I thought only Weiss could give people that look."

Sun laughed merrily. "You pick it up from spending time with Tammy."

Velvet let a smile creep on to her face. "I suppose so. I guess I didn't quite pick it up while I was there."

"You're too kind to have picked up a look like that." Sun said with a chuckle. "So really now," Sun clapped Velvet on the shoulder lightly, "what's wrong?"

Velvet gave in to Sun's persistent questioning. "I was just… remembering things." Velvet answered vaguely.

"Ah." Sun didn't need to press Velvet any further. He knew what she was thinking about. "I'm sorry for asking. I know it can't be easy for you." He had heard from Jaune that Velvet had spent the last month constantly working, but also spent her free time mostly staring into nothing or laying in her bed.

"I'm fine, really." Velvet said. "It'll just take some time. Or at least, that's what everyone keeps telling me." Velvet added with a hint of sadness.

"Well, they're right." Sun said, much to Velvet's surprise. She expected the thief to have a different outlook on life than that. "It'll be hard, but you have all the time in the world. Not everyone who went into the war can say that, right? You have to wait until you can find the strength to move forward into a new day. And most of all, never forget the people and friends that have faded away. They're important to who you are today, and eventually they will become your strength in the hard times ahead."

Velvet's eyes were wide with surprise. "I never expected you to say something so… poetic." Velvet said, suppressing a chuckle.

Sun blushed. "Hey, I was trying to help you here." He began to chuckle too though, and before they knew it both young faunus were laughing. Velvet was nearly bent over double with laughter, and a distant part of her mind still had the clarity to marvel that she could in fact still laugh, especially since she had yet to even crack a smile since the war's end.

"I'm sorry for laughing so much," Velvet continued as the laughter began to subside, "it's just hard to stop after so long."

"No worries, it was my pleasure." Sun said, scratching his ear. "Do you want to-" Sun stopped talking as his eyes glanced over Velvet's shoulder for just a moment, but that moment was enough to cause him to do a double take and to stop his question dead in its tracks. "Well, I'll be damned." He managed to say after a couple seconds of shocked silence.

"What?" Velvet asked, tilting her head questioningly.

"The dead walk, apparently." Sun said flatly, pointing over Velvet's shoulder.

Velvet turned around to look for the walking dead person that Sun alluded too, thoroughly confused. Her eyes immediately caught on to the person on the other end of the room she thought Sun was referring to, the formerly missing Weiss Schnee. "Weiss?" Velvet said to herself in surprise. She hadn't realized Weiss had even been present during the wedding. "She was missing, not dead." She said, taking a step towards her friend who was currently conversing with someone over her scroll.

Sun reached out and lightly caught Velvet's hand, stopping her before she could approach her friend. "Not Weiss. Behind her." Sun corrected, pointing.

Velvet adjusted her gaze to look at the taller woman standing behind Weiss, a familiar red haired woman. Velvet immediately recognized the woman as the one who had attacked Vacuo with the Grimm, but different. She looked cleaner, less wild, and was much better groomed than when Velvet had seen her at the end of the war. The most striking thing though, was now the woman was instantly recognizable as Ruby Rose, who had been officially dead for the last two years. "Ruby?" Velvet said reflexively, almost too surprised to comprehend what she was seeing.

And adding onto the mountain of surprise that Velvet was feeling, Ruby reacted to Velvet saying her name by turning and looking in Velvet's direction curiously. With her hyper sensitive hearing from her faunus heritage, Velvet was used to being the one able to hear people from great distances but she was not used to being the one heard from far away. "You can hear me?" Velvet said, seemingly to herself to outside observers.

Ruby smiled and nodded. "Yup." Velvet found she could hear Ruby just fine as well at this distance now that her sensitive ears were turned to face Ruby.

"What was that?" Weiss asked as she turned to face Ruby, closing her scroll.

Ruby nodded in Velvet's direction. "I was talking to Velvet."

Weiss turned to look at Velvet, and waved once she found her. "You can hear her through all this noise?" Weiss asked, referring to the chorus of conversations, music, and other noises one hears at a wedding.

"Yeah." Ruby answered as they made their way through the crowd towards Velvet and Sun. "Want me to say 'hi' for you?" Ruby grinned.

"I'm perfectly capable of greeting Velvet when we're close enough for me to hear her reply." Weiss said as she rolled her eyes. Ruby just laughed.

"So, I wasn't wrong, right?" Sun asked. "Didn't everyone tell me she died?"

"I guess we were mistaken." Velvet shrugged, her surprised emotions finally returning to normal levels.

As Ruby and Weiss finally arrived in front of Velvet and Sun, Ruby broke the ice. "Long time no see." She said with a little wave.

"You're telling me." Sun said, moving over to hug Ruby, who returned the hug affectionately. "How've you been?" He asked as Ruby hugged Velvet as well.

"Pretty good. Been spending a lot of quality time with Weiss this past month." Ruby replied. "Making up for lost time and all that."

Weiss' face reddened at Ruby's response. "Ahem." Weiss interrupted before Ruby could elaborate and embarrass her even further. "It's good to see you again." Weiss said to the two faunus across from her.

Sun nodded in greeting but otherwise ignored Weiss' words, too focused on Ruby. "The last month? Try the last couple years!" He asked. "Where have you been?"

Weiss tensed up at the question and looked at Ruby nervously, a detail that both Sun and Velvet didn't miss. "Oh, it's a long story. One for another time." Ruby answered with an innocent smile.

Sun didn't seem very surprised that Ruby responded that way and went with the flow of the conversation. "And you Weiss, dropping off of the radar like that." Sun scolded playfully. "I don't think you realize how worried the rest of us were."

Weiss looked down at her feet abashedly. "Sorry about that."

"It's fine." Velvet assured her. "Now that you're back, are you rejoining the army?"

Weiss shook her head. "No, I don't think I will. I quit and left Jaune and Pyrrha in charge, so there's no point in me coming back."

"What are you planning on doing now, then?" Velvet added.

"I'm not sure, to be honest. It all depends on what we decide to do." Weiss said, reaching to her side and entwining her fingers with Ruby's.

""Your father's company, perhaps?" Sun asked. "You could always return to the fortress and stay with me and the rest of us, if you haven't decided on anything else. I'm sure Tamamo would love to see you again."

"I might visit you, sure. I don't know about staying though. To be honest, I have enough money in my accounts to live comfortably for the rest of my life without worrying about finding work or anything." Weiss explained. "But I doubt I'll have reason to visit my father."

"You could at least meet with him once." A voice said from behind Weiss. "He did provide all the funds to rebuild Beacon, after all."

Weiss and Ruby turned around to see the one and only Professor Ozpin standing behind them. Velvet could hear Weiss' heart, because it started racing and pounding loud enough for her ears to pick it up. "Calm down, Weiss." Ruby said soothingly." Apparently Ruby could hear Weiss' heartbeat too. Velvet made a mental note to ask about how that was possible at a later point.

"Hello, Professor." Ruby greeted.

"Hello, Miss Rose." Ozpin greeted. The three former students felt like a part of Ozpin was missing as they looked at him, and they realized it was because he wasn't holding a mug for the first time that they had ever seen. "Miss Schnee."

"Um… hello." Weiss greeted. Clearly she had not wanted to meet the Headmaster for some reason. "How have you been?"

"I'm doing well. Beacon is rebuilt better than ever before, enrollment is high, and life is good." Ozpin said. "Can't really complain."

"That's good to hear." Ruby said. "I hear my father is teaching at Beacon now?"

"Yes, he's quite popular among the students." Ozpin said. "Especially the girls…" He added off handedly. "And a number of the female faculty as well."

Ruby laughed. "Well, dad has always been popular with the ladies."

"I can't disagree." Ozpin said with a nod. "You seem remarkably healthy, Miss Rose, considering that by all reports you were dead."

"I got over it." Ruby chuckled.

"Your uncle will be quite surprised." Ozpin continued. "I assume that since I haven't heard anything, you haven't told your father or uncle that you've… gotten better."

"Was planning on doing that soon." Ruby answered.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but did you say my father paid for Beacon to be rebuilt?" Weiss interjected, hoping to direct the line of conversation away from Ruby.

"He did, Miss Schnee." Ozpin replied. "Though he may not wish me to reveal it, I feel you should know that. He does care for you, even if he doesn't quite know how to express it at times."

"Maybe you should visit him." Ruby said, turning to Weiss. "At least once."

It seemed Weiss couldn't refuse Ruby. "Okay. I will. Later, though. After we get all our other business settled."

"Weiss, we've been living alone for a month doing nothing but whatever we wanted. We don't have any 'business.'" Ruby laughed.

"With your family and reintroductions." Weiss said. "You know what I mean."

"Yeah, yeah."

Ozpin chuckled. "Well, I'll leave you four to enjoy yourselves then. Farewell." He shook everyone hands before waving goodbye and wandering off into the crowd.

"I think we should be off too." Weiss added a few moments later.

"What? We've only just discovered neither of you are dead and that's it?" Sun asked incredulously.

"I'll come and visit the fortress soon." Weiss assured him.

"You better." Sun said with a cheeky grin. "Can we at least grab lunch?"

"I'm actually a little busy." Velvet said quietly. "I have to go back to work in a couple hours."

"Work? Today?" Sun raised an eyebrow in disbelief.

"Especially today, with Jaune and Pyrrha off on their honeymoon." Velvet explained. "I have a lot of work to do in their place."

"I see." Sun unwillingly admitted.

"I think Sun is disappointed that he doesn't have an excuse to spend more time with you, Velvet." Ruby said with a yawn.

"Ruby!" Weiss scolded while both Velvet and Sun blushed and glanced at each other from the corners of their eyes. "You really need to learn what's appropriate to say in a conversation again." Weiss looked apologetically at Velvet and Sun, who were pointedly not looking at each other. "Sorry about her. She… needs practice with social etiquette again."

"Pffft. Do not." Ruby complained, yawning again. "I'm just speeding up the process a little, being a little more forward. Like I did when you-"

Weiss quickly reached up and placed a hand over Ruby's mouth. "That's enough for today, we better be going now." Weiss said as she reached up and felt Ruby's forehead to check her temperature with the back of her other hand. "You're starting to get a little warm again." Weiss observed.

"It's just warm in here." Ruby objected playfully.

"You still need your rest. We don't want any unexpected side effects." Weiss said, ignoring Ruby's playful protest. "It was nice seeing you two again, I'll be sure to stay in touch this time, okay?" Weiss said with a sincere smile.

"Bye bye!" Ruby exclaimed, hugging both Velvet and Sun again before the couple left and disappeared into the crowd.

Velvet and Sun watched wordlessly as the two women left, still a little baffled at the whirlwind of events that had just occurred. "Well, that was certainly unexpected." Sun said, more to make conversation than to actually make an observation.

"Yeah." Velvet agreed. "Ruby is definitely… different." Velvet continued.

"Tammy will be interested to hear about Ruby, at the very least." Sun commented. "I wonder how a meeting between them would go."

Velvet tried to imagine the eternally cheery Tamamo meeting the now playful and womanly Ruby, and shuddered at the image. "Weiss would have a fit of anger. Or embarrassment." Velvet chuckled.

"I bet." Sun laughed. "So, uh…" Sun scratched his head nervously. "The offer extends to you, too."

"What offer?"

"To come to the fortress." Sun explained. "I know things have been rough, with all the work you've been doing lately. And now you say you have even more work. You would be welcomed with open arms if you came back. The fortress is surprisingly relaxing when you aren't training day and night." He elaborated.

"... Thank you, Sun." Velvet said softly. "I think I may consider it. It won't be for a while though. I need to help Vacuo's civilians first."

"I understand." Sun said with a nervous grin.

"Ruby was on the right track, by the way." Velvet said, looking at her finger tips.

"Huh?" Sun was clueless.

"Being a little more forward isn't a bad thing. Like you used to be." Velvet continued, her face reddening slightly as she continued make an effort not to look at Sun.

Sun could only chuckle before nearly giving in to full blown laughter. "Okay, okay, I get it. How about you put off work for another couple hours and we go grab a bite to eat."

"Sorry, can't do that." Velvet said emotionlessly. "I have work."

Sun just stared. "Bwuh?" After that lead up, Velvet just turned him down? What kind of joke was that?

Velvet smiled playfully. "I could do dinner though, if you're willing to eat a little late."

Sun let out a sigh of relief. "Oh man, I thought for sure you were messing with me. Maybe you did learn something from Tammy, eh?"

Velvet just laughed as they left side by side, debating which restaurant to go to.

* * *

The next four months ranked among the most exhausting three months of Velvet's entire life, even including her time in the war. As it turned out, people who lose nearly everything in their lives are quite needy. The former citizens of Vacuo needed food and water, housing, living amenities, land, jobs, and a whole host of other things that Velvet didn't think about until they came up. Work was progressing quickly, though there was some trouble procuring supplies in the first weeks because one of their suppliers had disappeared. The obstacle was quickly overcome with the assistance of the citizens of Vytal, who sympathized with their Vacuoan neighbors after the true cause of the war was revealed.

Even with the return of Pyrrha and Jaune and the end of the first month, Velvet's workload wasn't noticeably lighter no matter how you looked at it. However, much to the newlywed couple's surprise, Velvet didn't seem as down or as sad as she had been. After surreptitiously spying on Velvet after hours, they soon discovered the reason for Velvet's slowly improving attitude and outlook. It seemed that every night after she got into bed, Velvet spent an hour or two talking to Sun Wukong over her scroll. It had started off with Sun just calling her every evening unannounced, and soon developed into a sort of nightly ritual.

The two faunus talked about all sorts of things- their pasts, what had happened during their day, stories they had heard, jokes, and anything else they could think of. These brief periods of time each night became the highlight of Velvet's days, and soon she found herself working as hard and as fast as she could during the day so she could try to get in a few extra minutes with Sun each night.

Near the end of the second month, Velvet became self aware and noticed that her mental health had been improving. She was smiling more and eating healthier, and even her nightmares had slowly subsided, eventually disappearing. And in what to her was a strange twist of fate, she found herself thinking more about Sun Wukong himself, and not just the enjoyable conversations. This caused Velvet a small amount of distress at the beginning of this discovery because she felt that she was, in a way, betraying her feelings for Blake. But as Sun had told her after the wedding, time had resolved any doubts she had on the matter.

In the third month, Sun and Velvet had a grand time talking about the unexpected rise of the new CEO of the Schnee Dust Company, Weiss Schnee. It seems that Weiss had kept her word and visited her father, an event which appears to have led to some sort of reconciliation, or at least a civil agreement. Interestingly enough, Ruby Rose still had made no appearance of any sort in any public setting, not even at public appearances with Weiss, which the pair found curious. But even this huge event wasn't enough to distract the two faunus and their growing their affections for each other.

And now, at the end of the fourth month, Velvet had finally finished her work and was free to leave her position if she so desired. It seemed that Jaune and Pyrrha would be choosing to keep their positions as Lord Commanders, so Velvet said a farewell but not a goodbye and left them to pursue her own dreams. This brought her to where she was now- standing in front of the gates to the fortress she had trained in years ago, hoping to surprise Sun with her arrival. Velvet pulled out her scroll and called Sun, waiting patiently as the line rang.

Only a few seconds later, there was a click followed by a voice. "Velvet?" Sun asked. "You got off work early. What's up?"

"I'm actually done with all my work now." Velvet said from her position outside the closed gates. "Mind opening the gates for me?"

Velvet could sense Sun's bafflement through her scroll. "The gates?"

"I'm standing outside the fortress." Velvet chuckled.

"What! You're here?" Sun exclaimed in surprise. Velvet could hear frantic movements on the other end of the line as Sun rushed through the halls towards her position.

Velvet ended the call, figuring that Sun would be too busy making his way to the gates to waste breath speaking. She only had to wait a few minutes before Sun managed to make his way out of the massive fortress to the front gates, where he had to stop and bend over at the waist to catch his breath. "A little… warning would've… been nice." He gasped between breaths. Despite his complaint though, Sun had a smile on his face.

"I thought I'd surprise you." Velvet said simply as Sun fiddled with the gate controls.

"Well you certainly surprised me, I admit." Sun said as the gates slid open, allowing Velvet access to the fortress. "Welcome back, I suppose?" said with a shrug.

Velvet giggled. "Thanks."

"Have you eaten lunch yet?" Sun asked, checking the time on his scroll.

"Not yet, no."

"How about I cook something up for us?" Sun suggested.

"You can cook?" Velvet's face was a mask of surprise.

"Of course I can." Sun sniffed with faked arrogance. "I'm insulted you think I can't."

Velvet laughed. "I'm sorry, you just don't seem like the kind of person who would take the time to learn how to cook."

"Well, I can. And I shall blow you away with my virtuoso skills." Sun puffed out his chest.

"That good?"

Sun looked back at Velvet silently for a few minutes before deflating. "No. actually." He sighed as Velvet laughed at him again. "I can just cook some simple things, honestly."

"Well, simple is nice." Velvet assured him. "I look forward to a home cooked meal. Is this a date then?"

"…If you want it to be." Sun said after a moment's thought, giving Velvet full control of the situation.

Velvet needed no time to think about it. "I do want it to be."

"Well, shall we?" Sun held out his arm.

"We shall." Velvet took the offered arm and walked into the fortress with Sun, smiling all the while.

It seems now, looking back, that Sun had been right. Time did eventually heal the wounds in her heart and mind. She found something new to look forward to, and new reasons to continue living her life. Her memories of her friends were no longer painful reminders of what she had lost; Instead they had become reminders of how good life could be and that everything would eventually work out. And though she had wanted to forget her memories and the pain that came along with them in the beginning, now Velvet wouldn't want to forget them for anything. These memories were a part of who she was now, and forgetting them would surely be as debilitating as cutting off part of her own body.

"Whatcha thinkin about?" Sun asked as they entered the fortress doors.

"Oh, nothing." Velvet answered with a smile. "By the way…"

"Hmm?"

"You aren't still sleeping with Tamamo, are you?" Velvet asked innocently.

Sun stumbled and nearly fell in surprise, and would've without the support of his arm been interlocked with Velvet's. "What! No!" He said defensively.

"Really?" Velvet continued playfully.

Another voice answered in Sun's place. "He's not lying." Velvet looked left to see Tamamo descending a set of stairs, tail flicking back and forth merrily behind her while she twirled her scroll in her hands. "I let him off the hook months ago, after he started talking about you twenty-four seven." Tamamo said with a mischievously innocent look on her face as she continued past them towards the front doors of the fortress.

"Aw, you talked about me to them that much?" Velvet teased.

Sun's tanned face had flushed red in embarrassment. "Damn it, Tamamo."

Velvet smiled. She had a feeling that life here would be good.


End file.
